Hermione Granger had never been very popular, always sitting in the library or in her room, studying. She didn't like to go out when she could be learning, and only her two best friends didn't mind. Harry Potter and Ronald Weasley didn't understand their friend's habits, but they were as tolerant as their personalities allowed - which, of course, wasn't very much. But back to Hermione. Like I said, she had never been very popular. So you can imagine her surprise when Draco Malfoy - most popular, not to mention most handsome boy at school - approached her and asked her if she would like to go out for dinner. Hermione's curiosity was piqued, so she agreed. When she got to the resteraunt where they were supposed to meet, she was led to a table for two and waited for Draco to show up. She drank about five glasses of wine - alone - before she finally decided that he wasn't going to show up. She paid for the wine and sadly walked back to Hogwarts, finally realizing that the whole thing had been a joke. When she reached the front door, she found Draco and his two followers waiting for her to show up. They burst into laughter when they saw her walking up the steps. What they didn't notice was the silent tears making their way down her face - until she walked up to Draco and pointed her wand at him. "You bastard! I waited for you!" She scoffed. "I should have known it was a joke, but I had hope for you." She lowered her wand and walked inside, but stopped walking when she heard Draco snickering. She turned back and punched him hard in the face before going inside and up to the Gryffindor dorms.
When she got into the Gryffindor common room, Harry and Ron were waiting for her. Ron stood up and held her tight. "I'm sorry, Hermione. I'm sorry that Draco is such a jerk. Don't cry, ok? Please? He's not worth it." Hermione shook her head. "I know that, but I had hope that he could be different. I thought he was different. But I was wrong." She lifted her head from Ron's shoulder and backed up, wiping her tears away. "I guess that means I'm still single, right?" She laughed bitterly. Draco chose that moment to walk into the room; seeing the tears on Hermione's face, he snickered again. Harry glared at him. "Shut up, Malfoy. Can't you see you hurt her? You're a bastard. I hope you die alone and young." That struck a nerve. "Alone, eh? I can have any girl in this school. Maybe I'll die young, but I won't die alone." Draco stormed haughtily out of the Gryffindor common room. As soon as he left, Hermione started laughing. "Won't die alone? Not one girl in this school would want to be with him long enough for that, and I doubt any other girl in this entire world would, either." In her thoughts, she added, "Except me." Harry and Ron laughed with her. "Yeah, you're right, Hermione," said Ron. Hermione offered a small smile and Ron took that as a sign that it was okay to hug her. Hermione felt awkward but she didn't push him away, and besides, his hugs were nice. He let go of her a few minutes later and they all said goodnight to each other.
Hermione lay awake in her bed that night, unable to sleep. She found herself tossing and turning, discovering new feelings for Ron. These new feelings were strange to her, and they made her uneasy. Ron was her best friend, and she didn't want to get romanctically involved with him; she was sure that he didn't want to get romantically involved with her, either. So Hermione sat up and swung her legs off the side of her bed to step into her slippers before throwing the bedcovers off and going downstairs into the Gryffindor common room. She wrapped her robe tighter around herself and stood in front of the fire, watching the logs burn.
He approached her slowly, stepping carefully so he wouldn't make any noise. He reached her and placed his hand on her shoulder, causing her to jump and turn to face him. "Draco? What are you -" "Shh." He put his finger to his lips and pulled her closer to him. Hermione placed her palms on Draco's chest to prevent herself from being pulled any closer. "Draco," she whispered, "how did you get here without being seen by the night patrollers?" He grinned. "I'm very sneaky." Hermione rolled her eyes. "Go back to the Slytherin dorms. You don't belong here, especially after hours." Draco rolled his eyes. "You were never very persuasive." Hermione gave him a questioning look, but he just shook his head and pulled her closer to him. "Draco ..." she whispered, before his lips on hers cut her words short.
Hermione didn't know how to respond to Draco's kiss. She knew she should pull away, but she didn't want to - the feeling was just too amazing to stop. Draco pulled back, leaving Hermione wanting more. She braced herself on his shoulder and took several deep breaths. Draco smirked and raised an eyebrow at her. "Didn't know I could kiss like that did you, Granger?" She glared at him. "Shut up, Malfoy." He smirked again and led her over to the sofa. "Sit down, you'll feel better." Hermione sat down obediently, and he sat next to her, taking her hands in his. She blushed, feeling a bit awkward. "She's so beautiful," he thought. Draco stared at her, his eyes softly grazing her body. "What?" she asked suddenly. "Hmm?" "You're staring at me, Malfoy. Is there something wrong with the way I look?" He shook his head and loosened his tie. "Uh...uh...no, no absolutely nothing wrong at all," he said, his voice shaking. "You're lying!" she cried, and immediately stood up to look herself over and fix any imperfections. He shook his head, a smirk on his face. He took her hand and pulled her back down. "Mione, you look beautiful. There is nothing wrong with the way you look."
Hermione blushed and looked away. Her emotions were tangled and she was confused - she wanted this, she wanted this so badly; but she was afraid to be hurt again. She turned back to Draco and he smiled at her, his eyes sparkling. Hermione slapped him in the face, hard. "OW," cried Draco, "what was that for?" She glared at him. "For making me cry, you jerk." Draco sighed. "Okay, I deserved that. And Mione, I'm sorry. I am so sorry I hurt you. I was afraid of my feelings. I thought if I denied them and carried on the way I've always done, then they would go away; but they didn't go away, Mione. They only grew stronger. I love you."